When the White Sox announced the firing of Ethan Katz before the 2026 season, the news was rather surprising. Katz, 43, joined the White Sox coaching staff as pitching coach under Tony La Russa and helped lead the White Sox to the playoffs that year on the backs of their starting rotation. Still, with the White Sox undergoing a new rebuild and a new manager at the helm in Will Venable, the organization decided to move on, letting Katz go and bringing in Zach Bove to lead the pitching staff. After a stint in Houston this year, Katz is back as an MLB pitching coach, and it’s perhaps the most difficult job in the league that awaits him.
The #Rockies have hired former #WhiteSox pitching coach Ethan Katz as pitching coach. Katz was with the ChiSox 2021-25 and was the #Astros assistant pitching coach last season. The right-handed Katz pitched four seasons in the Rockies' system (2005-08), 13-7, 2.79 in 102 G, 8 GS.
— Thomas Harding (@harding_at_mlb) November 2, 2026
According to reports, Katz has been hired as the pitching coach of the Colorado Rockies. It’s an organization that Katz is familiar with from his playing days. He never reached the big leagues as a pitcher, but he was drafted by the Rockies and spent four years in their organization from 2005-2009. Following his retirement from playing, Katz began coaching in the high school ranks at Harvard-Westlake High School in California. It was there that he coached future big league pitchers Lucas Giolito, Max Fried, and Jack Flaherty. He parlayed his work with big time arms into a job in pro baseball, joining the Angels as a minor league pitching coach. After stints with LA, Seattle, and San Francisco, Katz was hired as the pitching coach of the White Sox in 2021, which came at the recommendation of then White Sox ace Lucas Giolito.
Katz was fired from the Astros staff alongside manager Joe Espada following a 2026 season where they won the AL West but lost to the White Sox handily in the Wild Card series. Just a month after the end of Houston’s season, Katz has a new gig.
The Rockies have been the worst team in baseball at pitching for years
The Rockies organization has struggled with producing good pitching since essentially the inception of the franchise. Colorado first became a franchise in 1993, and in the 34 years since, they’ve finished with the worst team ERA in baseball 11 times, including in each of the past five seasons. They’ve finished in the bottom five in 26 of their 34 season, and their team ERA since 1993 is an eye-popping 5.59. The extreme hitter-friendly environment due to the elevation in Colorado certainly plays a part, but there are similar conditions in Arizona, and the Diamondbacks have had significantly more success. The truth is, the Rockies haven’t prioritized pitching development much throughout their history.
With a new GM in place for 2026, the Rockies have begun to make some organizational changes, including hiring Matt Daniels as a new pitching director. Ethan Katz will join Daniels in a quest to rebuild the organization’s pitching development system in a project that will certainly take some time.
White Sox fans will get a true sense of just how good Ethan Katz is based on how successful he is in Colorado. In the meantime, Zach Bove had a successful first year as the pitching coach on the South side after parlaying his success in Kansas City into a bigger role. With several young pitchers on the roster or set to arrive in 2027, we should learn quickly whether Zach Bove is the right man to head up the White Sox pitching staff. His work with Sean Burke and the team’s bullpen is certainly a promising start.
We’ll see how the team’s arms take another step forward in 2027.
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